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Monday, October 8, 2012

The Ryder Cup and Celebrity Watching

Members of the European team warming up

A couple weeks ago I attended a practice day at this year’s
Ryder Cup in Chicago. Since we needed to
head up to Chicago to help the oldest kid get moved into her new apartment
before school started, Charlie decided to get tickets for the boys and him for
the first two practice rounds. I tagged
along on the first day, Tuesday, in the hopes of running into a golf celebrity
or two while taking in the delightful scenery of one of Chicago’s finest golf
clubs. Of course I was not disappointed.

The day began EARLY.
We woke up at 5:30 a.m. so that we could find our way to Union Station
in time to catch the 7:00 a.m. train to Medinah. The entire train was filled with golf fans
and I listened as they told stories of beautiful courses and interesting
golfers and predictions on who would win this year’s Cup. After an hour we finally arrived at Medinah
and made our way to the course.

Did I mention that it was early? Oh, and already the beer stands were
open. And selling beer. At 8:00 a.m. – as in THE MORNING.

Since I desperately needed to find a restroom, an
exploration that took no less than thirty minutes, I caused the boys to miss
the pros warming up on the range. But I
did finally find the porta-potties (which are still gross – even at a fancy
country club).

We did, however, manage to see a few of the Europeans
practicing on the putting clock, which was directly across from the first tee,
which is where we decided to begin our day.

Tiger Woods

We watched as the European team teed off and then slowly
made our way along the ropes toward the first green. Once we found a spot that provided an optimal
viewing point of both the middle of the fairway and the green, we camped out
and waited for the Americans to come along.
Finally, after freezing my tush off and breathing in the fumes from some
old guy’s cigar for about an hour (or maybe shorter, I can’t remember clearly
because, did I mention that it was EARLY and there was a lot of cigar smoke
floating around?), we spotted Bubba Watson and Phil Mickelson as they made
their way down the fairway. Hooray! Now this is what I came here for. They waved at the crowd as they passed by,
kidded each other about one thing or another, and moved along to the next
hole. After the last group of the
American team – the one with Tiger – played through, we moved on to see what
all Medinah had to offer. And to look
for food and another set of porta-potties.
Man cannot live on coffee alone, you know.

After walking around the course for a while, Billy and I
decided to head back to the driving range in the odd chance that we might find
some of the participants for the Celebrity Pro-Am tournament warming up. HELLO!
Jackpot!

Lee Trevino

Michael Phelps

We joined about fifty other people along the ropes that
formed a passage for the celebrities to pass through from the driving range
over to the putting clock. And those
guys were signing autographs as they passed through! We saw Ben Crenshaw, Lee Trevino, Michael
Phelps, George Lopez, Bill Murray, and Justin Timberlake. And all of these guys – except Justin
Timberlake – stopped to sign autographs, pose for pictures, and generally
interact graciously with the fans.

The always entertaining Bill Murray

Now, here is where the day’s lesson took place.

I am a big fan of Justin Timberlake. I think the boy can sing, possesses great
musical talent, and is hilarious. But
people, he was a big disappointment in real life.

Quick, look! It's Justin Timberlake!

While the other celebrities relied on their Medinah hosts to
shuffle them from one place to the next, Timberlake brought his body guard and
entourage of around twenty people. Yes,
you read that correctly: HE BROUGHT HIS
BODYGUARD. To the Ryder Cup. You know, to keep the frenzied fans a safe distance
away. Because EVERYONE that attended the
Ryder Cup only had one purpose that day: to maul Justin Timberlake.

But wait, there’s more.

While all the other celebrities (including America’s beloved
Michael Phelps – you know, the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time) took
a few minutes and walked amongst the commoners, signing autographs and hamming
it up for pictures, Justin simply gave a wave of his hand as he passed by in
his golf cart while his bodyguard informed us, “Not now, everyone. Justin will only have time to sign at the end.” Which would be fine, except that he was on
the same time schedule as all the other celebs in the tournament….

Now, don’t get me wrong.
I know these guys don’t owe us anything, and I believe they deserve
their privacy just as much as the next person.
And, honestly, initially Timberlake’s behavior really didn’t strike me
as odd. But then I observed the manner
that all the other celebrities handled the small crowds that gathered around
them (and, when there are approximately 20,000 people at an event, ten to
twenty people gathered around to watch you swing a golf club is a pretty
humbling number of fans, if you ask me).
Lee Trevino stopped and carried on entire conversations with some of the
fans (as is his custom to do) and Bill Murray engaged in a humorous exchange
with a drunken single gal who offered up all sorts of perks if he would consider
her marriage proposal. George Lopez
stopped and took pictures or signed autographs with EVERY fan who requested his
attention (now THAT was time consuming).
These men were all extremely gracious and acknowledged the fans in a
manner that delighted and entertained.

George Lopez poses for a photo op

And Justin just walked around the golf course with his
bodyguard and Jessica Biel (who, by the way, carried a small umbrella that
shielded her face from the sun. I guess
she forgot to bring her sunscreen) and twenty of his closest friends and
confidants. It was, as one fan so
eloquently described it, completely obnoxious.
And, unfortunately, the whole experience left me more than just a little
bit deflated. While I’m certain Justin
has signed more than his fair share of autographs during his career, I was very
disappointed by his display of self-importance and indifference toward the
people who clamored around him in the hopes of receiving a brief
acknowledgement of their appreciation of his talent and contributions to the
entertainment world. Because, after all,
that is really what getting an autograph is all about: a brief exchange of respect between a
celebrity and his or her fan.

So, the moral to the story is this: No matter how accomplished you may become in
life, never forget those who helped you along your journey to success. As Dr. Huxtable was always so fond of stating
to Theo, “I brought you into this world, and I can take you back out.”

Oh, and never use a porta-potty if you can avoid it.

How about you? Have you ever met someone you admired, only to be disappointed after the introduction? Have you ever gone trolling for autographs? What is your favorite celebrity encounter? Where is the strangest place you ever had to use a porta-potty?

Hi Dawn! Keeping my fingers crossed that this comment will be sent thru the internets to you. Great post! I'm sending it on to my sister b/c she is a huge golf fan, esp. Tiger, so she'll love his pic and the account of your experience. As for me, I never met a porta-potty I didn't like--I'm usually in a desperate state and just plug my nose. I'm not a Justin fan anyway but I love Bill Murray and George Lopez! Nice job, great reading!

Erm, hooray! You are here! Thanks so much for stopping by! And tell your sister my son also got Tiger's signature (but that was on Day 2, while I was making a Target run with the oldest kid!) So glad you enjoyed, and I have to tell you, I was already a fan of both Bill and George, but now, after watching them work the crowds, I am over the moon about them both! Absolutely delightful! Justin, though, truly disappointed me with his self-absorption. I'd like to think maybe he learned something by watching the veteran celebs, but I doubt it :(And I hope everyone heads directly over to your place after they stop by here because your writing is absolutely entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable! (And you even discuss porta-potties in your latest post, too!)

First of all, awesome to have met Lopez and Murray! I don't have my own disappointment story, as most of my celeb meetings are writers, and they have always been gracious, BUT my mom was a Trekkie as a kid and got to meet William Shatner. She was completely shattered when he was rude to her. Broke her heart. Quite frankly, if you are in the spotlight, it is your fans supporting you and allowing you to remain there. When you aren't kind to them, you disrespect them and you lose fans. Then again, I've never been a Timberlake fan...but Bill Murray!!!

Shannon, Murray and Lopez were so gracious and delightful! I wish all celebs would take some notes from them....I am so disappointed to hear about your mom's experience with Shatner. I think we all need to remember not to take ourselves too seriously, and this applies to those in the public eye just as much as it does the rest of us! So disappointing to learn that for some of those guys their humility is really just an "act".And porta potties=yuck!

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I write the blog, "Since You Asked...." It's a blog about life, and how we can make the world around us a better place. And sometimes I throw in some anecdotes about my family because, hey, if you can't laugh at yourself, who CAN you laugh at?